Morris Minor Owners Club

As mentioned briefly a post or two back, I've been experimenting with adapting an MG metro exhaust manifold onto a "Matt" type RC40 system. Having a VERY free run of my local scrapyard,(many thanks Phil & Mike), using one of their scrap Moggys as a jig, I've learnt a fair bit about the various pipe systems used by BL! I wanted something as an alternative to the fabricated manifolds which some say are a bit noisy, (also read about some premature weld failures). After a bit of head scratching and wading through mud & nettles, discovered a mk3 Allegro which has a lovely design of collector box, far nicer than the Metro "crush the pipes together and weld the gaps up" approach. Also has one of those woggly ball jointy bits which should help any minor alignment woes (excuse the pun)! Cut up a couple of old Minor downpipes for the bends and hey presto- one cool looking header! No-you'll have to wait 'til I dress the welds out a bit (tomorrows job) then see it in all its glory!

Can't wait! Sounds lovely.

onto a "Matt" type RC40 system

you mean a side exit mini system? ;)

That'll be the one! But with your additions, of course

some straight pipe and JLH over axle bend!

Apologies for the "functional" welding! Hate welding tube. Anyway.....<br><br>
Got a bit carried away when I saw a Ferrari header assembly in for repair at the scrappy, a bit of Italian influence rubbed off!! Seriously, it was the only sensible way to get both pipes through the hole in the bulkhead.

How did you deal with avoiding drips of weld hanging though on the inside of the tube?

I need to make a new exhaust manifold for the V4 in my pickup and working out how to avoid this has been worrying me for a while.

Tacking the job initially, then building onto that as a base. Seems to have worked, but you end up with some bulky/ugly welds, hence the dressing back!

Hello Alain,

firstly a good fit of all joints, i.e no gaps. Secondly is the right current and speed of welding. Comes down to experience. I'm assuming you want to use a MIG?

Alec

that is a hoofin' bit of kit, loving it!

Yes, it looks lovely and swirly

Used stick welder on it (shock horror) as the no gaps bit was a little difficult to enforce and I could envisage lots of stringy bits of wire inside the tubing with my SIP MIG! Mostly able to see down the inside as I worked and thus feel confident about the minimal gas flow disturbances! The spiral vortex will of course help to dodge any lumps (ha ha)

Hello LA,

nothing wrong with a stick welder, but 1\16" is about the thinnest you'll weld easily. Gas is my favourite though, so flexible.

Alec

Looks great LA! Well done. Yes -I would gas weld steel tube too - but you have done very well indeed with stick!

Did you bend the pipes yourself or did you raid the exhast fitters skip and make it out of bits? If you bent it yourself, what did you use/

Sorry, just reread your first post.

LINEARAUDIO wrote:I could envisage lots of stringy bits of wire inside the tubing with my SIP MIG!

Yeah, that's what I was worried about doing myself ... I guess I'll just have to be very careful with fitting the bits together.

alainmoran wrote:

LINEARAUDIO wrote:I could envisage lots of stringy bits of wire inside the tubing with my SIP MIG!

Yeah, that's what I was worried about doing myself ... I guess I'll just have to be very careful with fitting the bits together.

Good luck holding all those carefully profiled cuts together while you juggle with the wire feed etc! I was using feet, knees, all sorts to wedge the bits while I was tacking. Still kept shifting. Patience is a grand thing, so is an angle grinder

There are some quite good magnetic clamps around !

I've never got on with the magnetic clamps ... so far my favourite tool has to be a set of g-cramps and/or a vice (or two)